December 24, 1854 Earthquake: Nankaido, Japan
A magnitude 8.4 earthquake struck Nankaido, Japan on December 24, 1854 at 08:00:00 UTC. It killed 3,000 people, counting the tsunami it caused.
Map
Where it struck, with the other significant earthquakes within 200 km. Circles are sized and colored by magnitude; select one for its page.
The earthquake
- Date
- December 24, 1854
- Time
- 08:00:00 UTC
- Place
- Nankaido, Japan
- Magnitude
- 8.4 (Ms)
- Tsunami
- Yes: the tsunami it caused
- Epicenter
- 33.100° N, 135.000° E
- Country
- Japan
The toll
- Deaths
- Many (about 101 to 1,000); 3,000 with its tsunami and other effects
- Damage
- Severe (about $5 to $25 million); Extreme (about $25 million or more) with its tsunami and other effects
- Houses destroyed
- 10,000; 20,000 with its tsunami and other effects
- Houses damaged
- 15,000 with its tsunami and other effects
Where the literature gives no number, NCEI records a description on a scale of 1 to 4, printed here in its words. Damage is in millions of US dollars of the year of the event, not adjusted for inflation.
What the record says
NCEI’s account, from the sources it cites.
Reference #150:
1854, Dec 24 [Nov 5, 3-5pm, Ansei 1 (Japanese calendar)]. 33.1 N, 135 E, magnitude 8.4, tsunami magnitude 4, validity 4.
About 20,000 houses destroyed, 15,000 houses washed away, 6,000 burned houses, 3,000 deaths in total. 28m high tsunami at Kochi, 10m high at Koga in Kochi Pref, Yunomine and Dogo Hotspring stopped about 2 months.
Reference #414:
1854, Dec. 24, about 17:00 (local time). There was a catastrophic earthquake at Nankaido, accompanied by a destructive tsunami. The earthquake affected an enormous territory: all of the prefectures of Mie, Nara, Wakayama, Tokushima, Kagawa, Kochi, and Ehime; half of the prectures of Aichi, Shiga, Kyoto, Okaya, Tottori, Hiroshima, Yamaguchi, Oita; and part of the prefecture of Hiogo.
The number of homes completely destroyed by the earthquakes was about 10,000 and the number of homes half destroyed was about 40,000. Almost 6,000 homes were damaged by the fire.
The earthquake of December 23 was evidently weaker than the earthquake of December 24. The length of the zone of maximal intensity of the earthquake of December 23 was half as much, while the total area affected by the earthquake was 3.5 times smaller than the earthquake of December 24. The damage and destruction of structures during the latter was greater; the total number of destroyed homes on December 24 was three times greater and the number of victims 5 times greater than on December 23. The epicenters of the earthquakes, judging by macroseismic data, were 380 km from each other.
The total number of human victims on Dec 24 was 3,000, of which the majority perished in the tsunami.
Reference #79:
List the epicenter as 33.2N, 135.6E
Other significant earthquakes nearby
Within 200 km, the deadliest first.
- January 16, 1995, Kobe, Awaji-Shima, Nishinomiya, SW Honshu, Japan
- February 3, 1605, Nankaido, Japan
- October 28, 1707, Nankaido, Japan
- December 20, 1946, S Coast, Honshu, Japan
- December 20, 1711, Seionaikai, Japan
- August 3, 1361, Nankaido, Japan
- August 26, 887, Nankaido, Japan
- February 27, 1671, Nankaido, Japan
- February 22, 1099, Nankaido, Japan
- September 20, 1498, Nankaido, Japan
- April 17, 1948, Tokaido, Japan
- August 15, 1331, Sagami, Japan
- December 3, 1855, Nankaido, Japan
- August 8, 1808, E. Awa, Tokushima Prefecture, Japan
- November 29, 684, Japan
More
Significant earthquakes of 1854The 1800sRecent earthquakes near hereThis day in weather history
Sources
Significant earthquakes from NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information, Global Historical Hazard Database, cited as NCEI/WDS, doi:10.7289/V5PN93H7. Public domain. Read 2026-09-24. NCEI earthquake 1971.